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Review: Core 2 Quad G0-stepping overclocking - Q6700 retail. How high will it go?

by James Thorburn on 20 August 2007, 08:58

Tags: Intel (NASDAQ:INTC)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qajmp

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Specifications

The Core 2 Quad Q6700, as its model numbering suggests, boasts very similar specs to the Core 2 Extreme QX6700.

Processor name Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700
Form factor LGA775 LGA775
Manufacturing process 65nm 65nm
Physical cores 4 4
Clock speed 2.67GHz 2.67GHz
FSB 266MHz (1066MHz QDR) 266MHz (1066MHz QDR)
Multiplier range 6x - 10x 6x - 20x (fully unlocked)
L1 cache total 128KiB data + 128KiB code 128KiB data + 128KiB code
L2 cache total 8MiB 8MiB
ISA x86, x86-64, SSE-SSSE3 x86, x86-64, SSE-SSSE3
TDP 95W 130W
Transistors 582m 582m
Operating voltage 1.100V-1.372V 1.100V-1.372V
Current price £334 £588


The process enhancements of the G0-stepping Q6700 CPU helps reduce TDP to 95W - a significant reduction compared to the 130W of the B3-stepping QX6700.

Since it is not an Extreme CPU, however, the Q6700 loses the fully-unlocked multipliers. Instead, settings from 6x through to 10x are available, so any overclocking above stock speed has to be carried out by increasing the front-side bus.

Intel has stuck with the 266MHz (1066MHz QDR) front-side bus for the Q6700, rather than moving it to the 333MHz (1333MHz QDR) of the other processors launched during the refresh. This means that overclocking headroom should be less limited by the front-side bus than would otherwise be the case.

Most important of all, though, is the price. The Q6700 comes in at roughly £250 less than the QX6700.



On the outside, the Q6700 looks no different to any other LGA775 chip. The capacitor layout on the back of the processor matches that of B3 stepping Kentsfields.



The latest version of CPU-Z is able to correctly identify the Q6700 and confirm the G0 stepping.